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I would like to re-paint / re-finish a touring bike. Do you have any recomendation on where and what type of finish is good? I don't mean the color, but bake-on vs. epoxy vs. polyurethane..... Thanks for the tip.

Many people will tell you of the strength and durabililty of powder coating and they speak the truth. However, powder coating only retains its soft, non-chipping properties for so long. In most applications I find that good old automotive paint is the best and most stylish way to finish a nice bicycle. Dekerf cycles offers complete paint jobs and a mind blowing array of custom work. Check out their website and read what they have to say about painting, etc. Their paint kicks ass and their prices aren't too hard for most people to reach. Their website www.dekerf.com

Re-painting is a tricky subject. If you're going to do it really "right" it means stripping the frame of all parts, and then stripping it down to bare metal. Then apply a good primer suited to the frame material (probably aluminium or steel in your case). Then a top coat of your choice. I have done this on my old Pegeot frame (see picture). I used the Hammerite brand of paints, as they claim to have good rust proofing ability, and this is my winter bike.

The job was a lot of work, but worth it.

Ed

__________________
Get a bicycle. You will certainly not regret it, if you live.

Ed,
Dekerf includes all of the stripping, priming, etc. in their refinishing price. That is why their services are a good deal not to mention their paint work is impeccable. And, why are you telling me? I am not the one who asked the question.

Apologies to BikerRyanI didn't scroll down far enough when I tried to check the thread. Still, it could happen to anybody.....

And this time, to address the thread starter...
ComPH - if you can stretch to a professional paint job, the results will be much better than a home attempt. The powder coat finishes are much tougher than most spray paints. Moreover, it takes care and a keen eye to get a good finish.

Ed

__________________
Get a bicycle. You will certainly not regret it, if you live.

Originally posted by BikerRyan However, powder coating only retains its soft, non-chipping properties for so long. www.dekerf.com

-Ryan

That is an interesting comment. I would like to hear more. Does Powdercoat become brittle with age?

If you are to paint on your own, enamel provides the hardest finish, but really takes several weeks or a month to cure.

Laquer paints available at automotive parts stores provide the best variety of colors at economical prices. Laquer is easier for the beginner to use.

I cannot overstate the importance of preparing the surface. In addition to removing the old paint, you need to wash the frame in solvent and then wash the frame with detergent and water. There is nothing more tragic than spraying your paint and getting a fish-eye that repels the paint.

Lacquer paint is still best option for cars.. and I would assume for bikes. But if you get automotive paint you reall yneed a HVLP spray gun.. and most of the paints that professionals paintshop's use use a catalyst.. but you can get standard lacquer paint and get a beautiful finish.

I had an early softride road bike (Paul Barkley built) powder coated in fire engine red in 1992. It has since gotten about 8 to 10 thousnad miles on it and still looks like new. I brought the bare dirty frame and fork in and they stripped (media blasted it) and powder coated it for $60. I have several other bikes (both Mountain and Road) done since then with similar results. All were done in the $50 to $60 range. I had one tandem (Burley Duet) done in the $100 range. Roger

I have had it done at two different places. When I did it the first time, I used a place that does a lot of Harley work in Standard, Illinois called House of Powder. You often see their ads in Hemmings Motor News the bible of automotive restoration. In the ten years since powder coaters have sprung up all around the southern Wis. - Northern Illinios area. I am currently using a place in Woodstock (northwest Chicago suburbs) Illinois and am also very satisfied with his work. Major reason for the change is he is much closer. I found him by looking in the Yellow Pages and then going and visiting his shop so I could get a feel for him, see some samples of work he was doing and look at the quality of his equipment. The prices will vary depending on color and if it is a special order powder. My bikes have had standard colors except for the tandem and he gave me a deal on some powder left over from another job. For what its worth you can only do powder on metal bicycles and the frame after being electrostatically coated is baked in a 400 degree oven. Roger

Check with motorcycle shops in your area for powder coaters. It seems to be a motorcycle thing. The one powder coating place that I know of here in town does primarily motorcycles.

Woodpecker, I am glad to hear about your experience with powder coating as I have a bike that I want to have refinished, and I have been debating paint vs powder coating. There is a guy here in town who does BEAUTIFUL bike paint work professionally. I had him do a bike for me. I have had no reason to question the durability of the paint as such. He uses the same stuff the best auto body painters use. Still, paint can chip while I don't think powder coat can, can it? You may scratch through it, but you aren't going to knock a chip out. Has that been your experience?
Thanks,
Raymond

My experience is that it is possible to scratch it (slipping wrench or screwdriver) but mine has no chips in it in ten plus years. If you talk to powdercoaters they will tell you that is why they want to do the media blasting to get the frame clean. Both of the people that I have used blast the frame no matter how you bring it in because they cannot see your finger prints until the frame comes out of oven. Roger

There is a possibility of deforming aluminium tubes during media blasting and even blowing through the metal if an abrasive media is concentrated for too long. I do not know what temerature they use for powder coating but anything over 190 degrees F will aneal the aluminium tubing.

I recently had a need to repaint the frame of my old Schwinn touring bike and did not want to spend major bucks on a paint job. I took all parts off the bike, taped up the Schwinn decal runnning the length of the down tube, and hand sanded the frame using 400 grit wet/dry paper. I didn't compltely remove the old paint, just got evrything good and smooth. I went down to the local Auto Zone and purchased a Dupli-Color Mirage lacquer paint kit. The kit consists of three parts: base or prime coat, the color coat and a clear coat in spray cans. I applied the paint per instructions included with the kit and the results were amazing. The bike looks as good as any bike out there and you would never know it was done with spray cans. The Mirage paint changes color according to light conditions and I regularly get questioned on where and how much my paint job cost! There are several different paint scheme colors to choose from, I got the blue/purple effect and depending on the light it will go green and copper also, its off the hook. Now, I ride this bike regularly and hard (1000 miles since paint) and have not had any chipping or flaking problems yet. Total material cost was about $30, time spent was three days including disassembly and reassembly of the bike. I'm happy.

I used Waterford to restore my '87 Paramount and they did a good job with proper preparation, preservation and high quality paint. They have a complete discription of their services at their www.WaterfordBikes.com website. I should warn you that they are a pain-in-the-ass to deal with, though. Think they are sort of like Cannondale in that they are into painting motorcycles more than bikes, anymore. Going where the money is, I suppose. Place is still owned by Richard Schwinn, and we all know what happened to that company.

Originally posted by Woodpecker I had an early softride road bike (Paul Barkley built) powder coated in fire engine red in 1992. It has since gotten about 8 to 10 thousnad miles on it and still looks like new. I brought the bare dirty frame and fork in and they stripped (media blasted it) and powder coated it for $60. I have several other bikes (both Mountain and Road) done since then with similar results. All were done in the $50 to $60 range. I had one tandem (Burley Duet) done in the $100 range. Roger

If you have ever painted a frame, you will agree that the prices Roger is talking about are very reasonable.

I live in Orange County, CA, so I finally had the bike powdercoated metalic candy apple red in Santa Ana at "Olympic Powder Coaters". They seem to do lot of bikes, so I didn't need to leave any instructions on what to mask, etc. The result is awesome! They did a really great job to sandblast and otherwise prepare and finish the bike, after I brazed on some brake bosses and eyelets. At that point the thing looked abused and pathetic. Now it looks new and like if it had a clear coat layer on it, even though I didn't ask for one. I am very happy with the results and with all the advice I received from many of you at this forum. Sincere thanks.